


House Sitting And Holidays

by tielan



Series: Everybody Needs Good Neighbours [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6340189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay, so maybe Steve does kind of have it a little bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	House Sitting And Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> “i accidentally set your plant on fire and i felt super guilty so i went to the store to buy you another plant but they ran out of the plant that you had and i didn’t know what other kind of plant you liked so i may or may not have bought you enough plants to fill a small greenhouse?” AU

Steve stares out the back window of his spare room and wonders where it all went wrong.

Most likely it began when he offered to look after Mister Fury and water her garden while she went away for the Labor Day weekend. And she’s due home this afternoon, and when she sees what he’s done to her garden…

Well, it wasn’t _him_ exactly.

Steve stares at the black streak of ash and char and wonders if this counts as arson. And whether she’ll ever talk to him again after this. They’ve become friendly over the summer in a ‘chat over the fence’ kind of way. Of course, the fact that these chats take place over a couple of hours in the yard and a couple of beers on the table might mean something. Then again, they’re taking place over the fence, too, which is a barrier Steve isn’t willing to breach without some serious encouragement on Maria’s part. And so far, _de nada_.

And after this, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get to find out.

 _You’ve got it baaaaad,_ Bucky drawled last night when he arrived to find Steve just about to head over to feed and pet the cat. _She’s got you as domesticated as that cat._

Frankly, Bucky wouldn’t say that about Mister Fury if he’d ever seen the tom stalking his territory.

Steve sighs and heads out, vaulting the lowest part of the fence to reach her yard. Mister Fury is sunning himself on Maria’s back porch. In a couple of hours, he’ll start yowling for his dinner and a petting. Right now, though, he just gives Steve a mildly filthy look as Steve sits down on the old loveseat, of the ‘ _you’ve interrupted my nap_ ’ kind that cats are so good at giving.

“Go back to sleep,” Steve tells the feline. “You can do that. I have to work out how to fix this so she doesn’t kill me when she gets back.”

Cats can’t roll their eyes, but Steve figures Mister Fury gives it a red hot go before the cat gets up, turns around so its back is to Steve, and then settles back down again, one paw over its face. Which is exactly what Maria’s going to do when she gets back and sees the mess Steve’s made of her garden.

Unless…

The idea blooms in Steve’s head. Five minutes later, he’s back in his house, scrambling to find his keys and wallet. Fifteen minutes later, he’s climbing out of his car at his destination.

Two hours later, he drives into his driveway and stares, dismayed, at Maria’s truck sitting in the open garage.

 _Shouldn’t have taken so long,_ Steve tells himself as he climbs out of the car. _Should have just left it at one—_

He hauls the first tray out of the car, and heads for her front porch, contemplates putting it down, ringing the doorbell, and running back to hide out in his car. But that’s cowardly, and she deserves an explanation for why the back corner of her garden is a charred and dreadful mess.

So he leans the tray against the wall by the door, rings the doorbell, and waits for her to answer.

“Hey, Steve.” She looks deliciously summery – all tanned and relaxed in a light and floating top, barefoot in those three-quarter pants, and holding a purring Mister Fury in the crook of her arm. “What’s with the plants?”

Confession time. “Uh. I guess you haven’t looked out at the backyard yet?”

Her brows go right up. “No.”

“Uh.” He takes a deep breath. “Let’s go out the back, then.”

She eyeballs him, warily, but shrugs and puts a disgruntled Mister Fury down, slips on a pair of sandals, and follows him down the stairs and around the house.

“I had a few friends over on Saturday night,” he explains as she moves past him to open the fence to the backyard. “And, uh, some of them were smokers and—”

Maria’s step hitches as she sees the blackened ruin of what was a perfectly lovely flowerbed. “Your friends tossed their cigarette butts into my garden?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I told them off. I mean, after we put the fire out. With the hose.”

She walks over to the garden bed and stares at charcoal and ash. “Did you call the Fire Department?”

“Um. No.” Steve grimaces. “Look, if you want to press arson charges, I don’t blame you, but please don’t…I bought you these to replace your garden with. If you want. And I have the receipt if you want to take them back and swap them for something else. I didn’t know what you liked, and I couldn’t remember what was in the garden so I bought…”

He trails off because she’s staring at him, frowning. “You bought me plants to replace the ones that your friends set on fire?”

“Yes.”

“So I wouldn’t press charges.”

“No. Well,” Steve says, “not _just_ so you wouldn’t…”

“All those plants?”

“Yes.” Steve hesitates. His skin is burning, and it’s got nothing to do with the afternoon sun. “Uh. There’s another tray in the car. I might have gone a little overboard.”

She regards the tray he’s still holding. “A _little_ overboard.” Then she sighs. “Okay, apology accepted. But,” she lifts one finger as Steve starts to sag a little in relief, “you have to help me put them in the ground.”

He blinks at her, relief giving way to something like elation. That’ll be at least one afternoon, spent in her company, working alongside her, getting to know her. Okay, so maybe Steve _does_ kind of have it a little bad. But that’s not a bad thing; just…tricky. Although much less tricky when she’s actually invited him to help out.

So he grins at her, and hopes he doesn’t seem too eager.

“I can do that.”

 


End file.
